If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Well i'm no programer or game designer, but i'm fairly confident that the 1gig+ data on my hard drive called Guild Wars includes Animations, character models, envoriment, meshes and textureing.

For both chapters to coexist, would'nt you need both chapters on your hard drive? As is, i'm fairly sure animations, textures and other visuals of that sort ar'nt being streamed through arena.nets servers.

Well, most of the data on your harddrive will be files that are only needed for prophesis (maps, enemey models, sounds from the cutscenes, etc). These are things that you only need for 1 chapter, so you wouldn't need to download them if you dont have that chapter

For the past few days ArenaNet has been streaming large updates to everyone's Guild Wars client.

What do you think is in there? Waffles?

While I do like that idea (mmm, waffles) it's all of the content for Factions. This includes... well, just about everything. Particularly skill descriptions and effects, new skins for weapons, character models for armor...

If you're in PvP, the only thing that needs to be common between the chapters is the skill list, armor and weapon models, and character attributes. This leaves off a whole lot of Factions content -- namely, all the new monsters, all the new areas.

But you're getting the skill updates now. So when you go into PvP with a Factions character (assuming you're Prophecies only) you'll already have the skill information on your computer.

You may also want to take note of the fact that there aren't "movies" in Guild Wars. All of the cut scenes happen in real game time. This is why sometimes they're different. I've read of instances where a monster was killing players during the movie (although I've never seen that myself). But I have noticed things changing. Mostly weapons of NPCs, but the monsters and characters move differently sometimes. And, of course, the cut scenes are all up to date with your party's armor and unique look.

Instead the movies are scripts (this is guessing, but it seems likely). The script tells your client what character to move where and when, what emotes to do, et cetera. So all you really have for the cut scenes is the pre-recorded audio and the scripts -- this doesn't have to take up very much space at all.

Since you'll potentially be playing with players who own both games in PvP, and since you could use your computer to log into an account tied to either game, they have to put the files for both games on your computer. By the time Factions is released, you'll have everything from both full games (animations, areas, etc.) already downloaded to the computer (assuming you logged on GW to let the downloader do its thing), regardless of whether you buy Factions or not.

Since people in PvP can own either or both chapters, the two have to be completely compatible. You can interact with any Factions material, you just can't use it yourself. So, you can't learn Factions skills, buy Factions armor, select a Factions profession, or go to Cantha, but you can have Factions players use their skills on you, see people wearing Factions armor, and play with people using the new professions.

EDIT: D'oh, nkuvu, ya beat me to it. I think you summed it up pretty well (lol, waffles...)

Yeah your basicaly downloading a part of the factions game(that the preview event will be held in) and all of the skill and Item data and thats it. Once factions comes out you will still have this data on your computer, you just cant use it in game without getting the access key from the factions game.

Now Back to the Origonal Q, yes the spell will work, However you cant use the spell yourself unless you got factions. simple as that.